91 Dead in Norway Shooting: Norwegian Man is Held in Attacks
Powerful Explosions Hit Oslo; Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami Claim Responsibility
A Massive Bomb Blast has hit Government Buildings in the Norwegian Capital Oslo, Killing at least Seven People and Injuring Several Others, Another attack on an Island kills Ten and wounds several youth
Two Pakistani Shia Students Brutally Beheaded by Taliban Terrorists
ISI-backed Kashmir lobby group under probe in UK
JEDDAH: Ignorance of Shariah makes women easy prey for men
Probe team to submit report on Vastanvi on Saturday
As Pak lobbyist falls on ISI sword, 'Hai-Fai' among Kashmiri Pandits
Pak's Jamiat fears naive Hina will suffer setbacks against 'wise' Krishna
19 die during urs celebration in Pakistan
Double Blow for Syrian Regime
Pakistan: MQM wins two seats in Azad Kashmir polls
'Pakistan nurtured terror groups, army projected India as threat'
U.S demands Bangladesh extradite Taliban-trained militants
US imam’s son key to terror support network: FBI
Muslim Brotherhood refuses bill of rights documents
General Jawaid Zia expresses concern over instability in Baluchistan
Woman alleges rape by army personnel in south Kashmir
Somali women’s minister abducted by militants
Sydney Opera House pic on jihad website triggers alert
Soccer team scores for women’s rights in Islamic world in sports — and society
Clash between two groups in Karachi; 11 killed
Yemen Qaeda chief, 10 soldiers killed in fighting
Three killed in Pakistan blast
Malawi president calls for calm as 11 die in riots
Cross-border attack kills two in Bajaur
PIA union leader shot dead in Peshawar
Iraq stays executions of two Saddam-era officials
Suspected Qaeda recruiter arrested in Germany
Burqa an affront to human dignity say Muslim women
Muslim Women Using Pop Culture and Social Media Technology to Effect Change
New Zealand: No place here for burqa
Woman's arrest for July 10 strike comes as new J&K flashpoint
US Muslim Woman Gets $20,000 in Lawsuit against Discrimination
Vice President releases autobiography of Asghar Ali Engineer
British Public Most Likely to Blame the Media for Islamophobia
Pakistan: Christian League launched to protect rights
Somali militants maintain aid ban and reject famine
U.S. Condemns Crackdown on Protests in Malawi That Left 18 People Dead
Keralite Suresh Nair named in Ajmer blast charge sheet
Human rights lawyer Shafeeq Rehman Mahajir honored in the US
Group criticises narrow view of Islamic law
Rabbi in court as divorce gets really ugly
Hamas cuts male hairdressers
Politicians urge tolerance over veils
Pakistan not complicit on Osama bin Laden: Musharraf
Afghans take over security in Herat
Valley falls to ‘leftover explosives’
Mumbai 26/ 11 martyr’s daughter gets govt job thanks to Home Misnister
Israel rules out flotilla apology to Turkey
Afghans face tough challenges after NATO transfer
El-Fadaly accused on TV of participating in 'Battle of the Camel'
National Council for Human Rights to issue a rights principles manifesto
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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91 Dead in Norway Shooting: Norwegian Man is Held in Attacks
By ELISA MALA and DAVID GOODMAN
July 22, 2011
OSLO — A lone political extremist bombed the government center here on Friday, killing 7 people, the police said, before heading to an island summer camp for young members of the governing Labor Party and killing at least 80 people.
Multimedia
"I have friends who are stationed on the youth camp. A friend says she's hiding in a closet. Some of the teenagers have started swimming from the island. Right now I am so scared. Everything has changed in just a few hours. "
Sara, Oslo
The police arrested a 32-year-old Norwegian man in connection with both attacks, the deadliest on Norwegian soil since World War II.
The explosions in Oslo, from one or more bombs, turned the tidy Scandinavian capital into a scene reminiscent of terrorist attacks in Baghdad or Oklahoma City, panicking people and blowing out windows of several government buildings, including one housing the office of the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who was unharmed.
The state television broadcaster, citing the police, said seven people had been killed and at least 15 wounded in the explosions, which they said appeared to be an act of domestic terrorism.
Even as the police locked down a large area of the city after the blasts, the suspect, dressed as a police officer, entered the youth camp on the island of Utoya, about 19 miles northwest of Oslo, a Norwegian security official said, and opened fire. “He said it was a routine check in connection with the terror attack in Oslo,” one witness told VG Nett, the Web site of a national newspaper.
Of the at least 80 people killed on the island, some were as young as 16, the police said on national television early Saturday.
Terrified youths jumped into the water to escape. “Kids have started to swim in a panic, and Utoya is far from the mainland,” said Bjorn Jarle Roberg-Larsen, a Labor Party member who spoke by phone with teenagers on the island, which has no bridge to the mainland. “Others are hiding. Those I spoke with don’t want to talk more. They’re scared to death.”
Many could not flee in time.
“He first shot people on the island,” a 15-year-old camper named Elise told The Associated Press. “Afterward he started shooting people in the water.”
Most of the campers were teenagers but there were also adults on the island, who may have been among the victims.
After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, according to the police and Justice Minister Knut Storberget. He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist, citing previous writings including on his Facebook page.
The acting police chief, Sveinung Sponheim, said the suspect’s Internet postings “suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but if that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen.”
He said the suspect had also been seen in Oslo before the explosions. The police and other authorities declined to say what the suspect’s motivations might have been, but many speculated that the target was Mr. Stoltenberg’s liberal government.
“The police have every reason to believe there is a connection between the explosions and what happened at Utoya,” the police said. They said they later recovered explosives on the island.
Mr. Breivik had registered a farm-related business in Rena, in eastern Norway, which the authorities said allowed him to order a large quantity of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, an ingredient that can be used to make explosives. Authorities were investigating whether the chemical may have been used in the bombing.
A Facebook page matching his name and the photo given out by the police was set up just a few days ago. It listed his religion as Christian, politics as conservative. It said he enjoys hunting, the video games World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, and books including Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and George Orwell’s “1984.”
There was also a Twitter account apparently belonging to Mr. Breivik. It had one item, posted last Sunday: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”
As the investigations continued, the police asked people to leave the center of Oslo, stay indoors and limit their cellphone use. They also said they would initiate border checks.
The attacks bewildered a nation better known for its active diplomacy and peacekeeping missions than as a target for extremists.
Elisa Mala reported from Oslo, and J. David Goodman from New York. Reporting was contributed by Souad Mekhennet, Ravi Somaiya and Matthew Saltmarsh from London; Katrin Bennhold from Paris; and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
In Oslo, office workers and civil servants said that at least two blasts, which ripped through the cluster of modern office buildings around the central Einar Gerhardsen plaza, echoed across the city in quick succession around 3:20 p.m. local time. Giant clouds of light-colored smoke rose hundreds of feet as a fire burned in one of the damaged structures, a six-story office building that houses the Oil Ministry.
The suspect in the Norwegian attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is shown in a photo from a Twitter account. More Photos »
A Twitter account apparently belonging to Mr. Breivik had one item, posted last Sunday: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.” More Photos »
The New York Times
"I have friends who are stationed on the youth camp. A friend says she's hiding in a closet. Some of the teenagers have started swimming from the island. Right now I am so scared. Everything has changed in just a few hours. "
The force of the explosions blew out nearly every window in the 17-story office building across the street from the Oil Ministry, and the streets on each side were strewn with glass and debris. The police combed through the debris in search of clues.
Mr. Stoltenberg’s office is on the 16th floor in the towering rectangular block, whose facade and lower floors were damaged. The Justice Ministry also has its offices in the building.
Norwegian authorities said they believed that a number of tourists were in the central district at the time of the explosion, and that the toll would surely have been higher if not for the fact that many Norwegians were on vacation and many more had left their offices early for the weekend.
“Luckily, it’s very empty,” said Stale Sandberg, who works in a government agency a few blocks down the street from the prime minister’s office.
After the explosions, the city filled with an unfamiliar sense of vulnerability. “We heard two loud bangs and then we saw this yellow smoke coming from the government buildings,” said Jeppe Bucher, 18, who works on a ferry boat less than a mile from the bomb site. “There was construction around there, so we thought it was a building being torn down.”
He added, “Of course I’m scared, because Norway is such a neutral country.”
American counterterrorism officials cautioned that Norway’s own homegrown extremists, with unknown grievances, could be responsible for the attacks.
Initial reports focused on the possibility of Islamic militants, in particular Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or Helpers of the Global Jihad, cited by some analysts as claiming responsibility for the attacks. American officials said the group was previously unknown and might not even exist.
There was ample reason for concern that terrorists might be responsible. In 2004 and again in 2008, the No. 2 leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, who took over after the death of Osama bin Laden, threatened Norway because of its support of the American-led NATO military operation in Afghanistan.
Norway has about 550 soldiers and three medevac helicopters in northern Afghanistan, a Norwegian defense official said. The government has indicated that it will continue to support the operations as long as the alliance needs partners on the ground.
Terrorism specialists said that even if the authorities ultimately ruled out Islamic terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s brutality and multiple attacks.
“If it does turn out to be someone with more political motivations, it shows these groups are learning from what they see from Al Qaeda,” said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington. “One lesson I take away from this is that attacks, especially in the West, are going to move to automatic weapons.”
Muslim leaders in Norway swiftly condemned the attacks. “This is our homeland, this is my homeland,” said Mehtab Afsar, secretary general of the Islamic Council of Norway. “I condemn these attacks, and the Islamic Council of Norway condemns these attacks, whoever is behind them.”
Elisa Mala reported from Oslo, and J. David Goodman from New York. Reporting was contributed by Souad Mekhennet, Ravi Somaiya and Matthew Saltmarsh from London; Katrin Bennhold from Paris; and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/world/europe/23oslo.html?pagewanted=2&hp
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Powerful Explosions Hit Oslo; Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami Claim Responsibility
Blasts and Gun Attack in Norway; 7 Dead
By ELISA MALA and J. DAVID GOODMAN
July 22, 2011
OSLO — Powerful explosions shook central Oslo on Friday afternoon, blowing out the windows of several government buildings, including one housing the office of the Norwegian prime minister. The state television broadcaster, citing the police, said seven people were killed and at least 15 injured; a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was “safe and not hurt.”
Deadly explosions shattered windows on Friday at the government headquarters in Oslo, which includes the prime minister’s office. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he was safe.
Shortly after the explosions, which appeared to be a bomb attack, a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on a summer camp for young members of the ruling Labor Party on the island of Utoya in the Oslo fjord, about 25 miles from the city, and wounded at least five, a Norwegian security official said.
“The situation’s gone from bad to worse,” said Runar Kvernen, spokesman for the National Police Directorate under the Ministry of Justice and Police, adding that most of the children at the camp were between 15 and 16 years-old. There were initial reports that Mr. Stoltenberg was scheduled to attend a meeting at the camp.
As fear spread through the capital, the police moved to lock down a wide area of the city center, where the streets were already nearly deserted.
The attacks appeared to be part of a coordinated assault on the ordinarily peaceful Scandinavian nation, as images of the damaged government buildings called to mind past terror attacks in Beirut or Baghdad or Oklahoma City.
Though the police did not immediately connect the explosions with terrorism, the mangled wreckage of a car could be seen in front of the main government building, flipped on its side, damaged so badly that its make and color were not apparent. A large area of the sidewalk pavement around it was completely blown away. Reports in local media said that officials were assuming it was a deliberate bombing.
A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad. “We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations,” the group said, according to Mr. McCants’ translation, apparently referring to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010. “What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come.” The claim could not be confirmed.
Norway is a member of the NATO alliance and has a small fighting contingent in Afghanistan. It was one of several countries named by Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, as potential targets for attack. In 2006, Norwegian newspapers reprinted Danish cartoons that angered Muslims by lampooning Muhammad. Norway has also historically been a frequent participant in peacekeeping missions and a host for diplomatic talks, including the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of the Norwegian Parliament.
Muslim leaders in Norway swiftly condemned the attacks. “This is our homeland, this is my homeland; I condemn these attacks and the Islamic Council of Norway condemns these attacks, whoever is behind them,” said Mehtab Afsar, secretary general of the Islamic Council of Norway.
Norwegian news media, citing the police, said the shooting suspect at the camp had been arrested.
Witnesses on the island told Norwegian television that the man identified himself as a police officer when he entered the camp. “He said it was a routine check in connection with the terror attack in Oslo,” one witness told VG Nett, the Web site of a national newspaper.
Bjorn Jarle Roberg-Larsen, a Labour Party member who had telephone contact with teenagers on the island, said: “Kids have started to swim in a panic, and Utoya is far from the mainland. Others are hiding. Those I spoke with don’t want to talk more. They’re scared to death.”
In Oslo, stunned office workers and civil servants in the vicinity of the bombed buildings said that at least two explosions were heard in quick succession, as the sound of the blasts echoed across the city. Giant clouds of light-colored smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air over the city as a fire burned in one of the damaged structures, a six-story office building that houses the Oil Ministry.
The police said that the initial blast occurred at around 3:20 p.m. local time. “We think there was more than one blast,” Mr. Kvernen said. He said he could not confirm the number of casualties.
The force of the explosion blew out nearly every window in the 17-story office building across the street from the Oil Ministry, and the street and plaza areas on each side were strewn with glass and debris. The police said they were on heightened alert as they combed through the debris in search of clues.
“This is very serious,” Mr. Stoltenberg told the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 by telephone, but he said it was still too early to call the blast a terror attack.
At about the time of his television appearance, Norwegian media reported that the police had also sealed off the offices of the broadcaster after a suspicious package was discovered there.
The explosions, which ripped through the cluster of modern office buildings around the Einar Gerhardsens plaza, occurred at a time when many Norwegians were on vacation and many more had left their offices early for the weekend.
Mr. Stoltenberg’s office is on the 16th floor of the tallest building in the area, a towering rectangular block whose facade and lower floors were damaged by the explosions. The Justice Ministry also has its offices in the building.
Helge Skinnes, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office, was in the building at the time of the explosions and was still at the site when reached by telephone Friday afternoon. “We have a crisis situation,” Mr. Skinnes said, declining to comment further.
Norwegian authorities said they believed a number of tourists were in the central district and around the main government buildings at the time of the explosion, but that it was not otherwise crowded. “Luckily it’s very empty,” said Stale Sandberg, who works in the directorate for family, youth and children affairs, a few blocks down the street from the prime minister’s office.
At the site of the explosion, police evacuated and roped off the area as tension mixed with shaken fascination. People milled around the area, some snapping photos of the destruction. Store windows were blown out for several blocks around.
Earlier this month, Norwegian prosecutors filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, the Iraqi-born founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, who is accused of making death threats against the head of Norway’s Conservative Party, Erna Solberg. Mr. Krekar co-founded Ansar al-Islam in 2001, but said a year later that he no longer led the group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and United Nations.
Norwegian authorities have previously ordered his expulsion from the country, but the process was suspended amid concerns that he would face the death penalty in his home country.
A threat assessment released in March by the Norwegian police said that though support for extremist Islamic terrorism was not widespread, “activity in certain communities” meant that the threat level would be heightened in 2011. “Some extreme Islamists currently appear to be more globally oriented,” the report said, “and it is primarily this group who could present a direct threat to Norway in the year ahead.”
The report also added that Norwegian businesses and high-profile figures were likely to be targets. Three Norwegian men were arrested in July 2010 on suspicion of terrorism and were said to be a terrorist “node” in a larger global network, American counterterrorism officials said at the time.
After the explosions, the city filled with an unfamiliar sense of vulnerability Friday. “We heard two loud bangs and then we saw this yellow smoke coming from the government buildings,” said Jeppe Bucher, 18, who works on a ferry boat less than a mile from the bomb site. “There was construction around there, so we thought it was a building being torn down.”
He added, “Of course I’m scared, because Norway is such a neutral country.”
Elisa Mala reported from Oslo, and J. David Goodman from New York. Reporting was contributed by Souad Mekhennet, Ravi Somaiya and Matthew Saltmarsh from London, and Katrin Bennhold from Paris.
Source: New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/world/europe/23oslo.html?_r=1&hp]
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A massive bomb blast has hit government buildings in the Norwegian capital Oslo, killing at least seven people and injuring several others
Another attack on an Island kills Ten and wounds several youth
22 July 2011
PM Jens Stoltenberg described the situation as "very serious".
The bomb was followed by a fatal shooting incident near Oslo at a youth meeting of the Labour Party, which Mr Stoltenberg leads.
Norwegian media said at least four people were killed when a man opened fire indiscriminately.
Police said the suspected gunman had been arrested, TV2 reported.
No group has said they carried out the attacks but police say they believe them to be linked.
Hours after the bomb struck Oslo, officials said some people were still inside the damaged buildings, some of which were on fire.
Television footage from the government quarter showed rubble and glass from shattered windows in the streets and smoke from the fires drifting across the city. The wreckage of at least one car could be seen.
All roads into the city centre have been closed, said national broadcaster NRK, and security officials evacuated people from the area, fearing another blast.
Mr Stoltenberg, in a telephone call to Norwegian television, said all government ministers were safe.
He said he had been advised by police not to reveal his current location, but is not thought to have been in central Oslo on Friday.
"Even if one is well prepared, it is always rather dramatic when something like this happens," he said.
Egil Vrekke, Assistant Chief Constable of Oslo police told the BBC the rescue operation was ongoing.
"We are issuing warnings just [to] make sure people are not in the area in case there are further explosions," he told the BBC.
"We have cordoned off large areas. There are bomb experts at the scene investigating whether there are other devices in the area."
A spokesman for Oslo University hospital said 10 people had been taken there for treatment, some with serious injuries.
A few hours after the explosion, reports emerged of the shooting at a Labour Party youth camp in Utoeya, an island outside the capital.
TV2 said at least four people had been killed and several injured - there were reports a gunman was wearing a police uniform.
"This created a panic situation where people started to swim from the island" said Labour Party spokesman Per Gunnar Dahl.
Mr Stoltenberg, who had been due to visit the camp on Saturday, told TV2 the situation in Utoeya was critical.
'Focus on rescue'
State Secretary Kristian Amundsen said Friday was a public holiday in Norway so the government offices were not as busy as they might usually have been.
Assistant Chief Constable Egil Vrekke: "There are a lot of casualties"
"But there are many hundreds of people in these buildings every day," he told the BBC.
"We have to focus on the rescue operation - there are still people in the building, there are still people in the hospital."
Reuters said the oil ministry was among the other government buildings hit, while NRK journalist Ingunn Andersen said the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG were also damaged.
"It's complete chaos here. The windows are blown out in all the buildings close by," she told AP.
Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, which has offices nearby, said the blast could be heard across Oslo.
"This is a very busy area on Friday afternoon and there were a lot of people in the streets, and many people working in these buildings that are now burning," he said.
Local resident Silvio told the BBC the blast shook everything in his apartment and that he saw several unconscious people in the street.
"If they were dead or not I wouldn't be able to tell you but they were receiving assistance at the time."
Mr Mjarum said people across Oslo and Norway were in shock.
"We have never had a terrorist attack like this in Norway - if that's what it is - but of course this has been a great fear for all Norwegians when they have seen what has been happening around the world."
The United States has condemned the "despicable acts of violence" in Oslo, while the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said he was "deeply shocked" by "these acts of cowardice for which there is no justification".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14252515
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Two Pakistani Shia Students Brutally Beheaded by Taliban Terrorists
Jul 22, 2011
Two Shia Students were beheaded by the Taliban terrorists on Tuesday two days after they were kidnapped the 8 truck drivers including two students belongs from Kurram Agency Parachinar.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Two Shia Students were beheaded by the Taliban terrorists on Tuesday two days after they were kidnapped the 8 truck drivers including two students belongs from Kurram Agency Parachinar.
The Taliban terrorists have beheaded the two students Syed Ijlal Hussain and Zakir Hussain and released the arrested drivers. The both students were abducted by the Taliban along with the drivers as these students were traveling in the abducted trucks to reach at Peshawar for admission in Peshawar University.
The beheading of the two innocent students were spread the grave anger among the residence of Kurram Agency Parachinar and they criticized the government over the failure to eliminate the Taliban terrorists from the region.
The elders of Kurram Agency also questioned the credibility of the Army operation against the Militants adding that the Taliban terrorists are openly performed their terrorism activities in the presence of Pakistan Army.
It may be noted here that the Taliban militants torched six vehicles and kidnapped 10 people in the restive Kurram tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Saturday.
The militants attacked a convoy of vehicles near Charkhel village on Thall-Parachinar Road in Kurram Agency yesterday. The rebels kidnapped 8 drivers and two students and injured two persons during the attack.
The attackers also set five trucks and another vehicle on fire. Officials said the incident might have been a reaction to an attack on a passenger vehicle near Parachinar, the main town in Kurram Agency, on Saturday.
http://abna.co/data.asp?lang=3&id=254577
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ISI-backed Kashmir lobby group under probe in UK
Jul 22, 2011
The Scotland Yard has initiated probe into the activities and financing of London-based Kashmir lobby group, Justice Foundation, suspected to be a front of Pakistan's ISI.
LONDON/NEW DELHI: The Scotland Yard on Thursday initiated a probe into the activities and financing of London-based Kashmir lobby group, Justice Foundation, suspected to be a front of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, according to a source in the agency.
The revelation comes a day after the Kashmiri American Council director in Washington DC, Ghulam Nabi Fai, was arrested by the FBI. India will soon write to UK and Belgium to initiate similar action against "Kashmir Centres" in London and Brussels.
A Scotland Yard spokesman told TOI, "We can confirm we are liaising with US authorities."
The British home ministry said it was probably not an offence under UK laws for lobbyists to be under-written by a foreign government or any of its agencies. "To the best of our knowledge, it is not," said a spokesman. This means police and the Crown Prosecution Service will have to take recourse to some other legislation if they proceed against Justice Foundation.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai (62) and Zaheer Khan (63), both US citizens, were charged with conspiring to act as agents of a foreign power in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of US.
In the US, it's a crime to lobby by using money from an overseas regime.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ISI-backed-Kashmir-lobby-group-under-probe-in-UK/articleshow/9317350.cms
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JEDDAH: Ignorance of Shariah makes women easy prey for men
Jul 22, 2011
JEDDAH: Though Shariah is clear in its preservation of the rights of all people, some men exploit their wives’ ignorance of such rules to make money when divorcing them.
Divorce is legal for both men and women under Shariah, but some unscrupulous people do not hesitate to tamper with these rights to gain money.
"Ignorance of the law does not protect fools. Similarly, ignorance of Shariah rules does not guarantee the rights of divorced women," said Omar Al-Kholi, lawyer and legal consultant.
He said the trust some women put in their husbands is in many cases misplaced. "I am not criticizing these women or belittling their intelligence, but I have seen many cases where the confidence of a wife in her husband only brought her misery," he said.
Al-Kholi said divorce happens in three cases: First, when a men exercises his right to divorce his wife at any time; secondly, when wives exercise theirs to demand khula (annulment of the marriage) at courts if their husbands are abusing them or are unable to perform their marital duties; and thirdly, if there is nothing wrong with the husband but the wife cannot tolerate living with him.
“In the last scenario, the wife has to pay back the dowry to her husband," he explained.
Al-Kholi noted that some men may stipulate a certain amount of dowry in the marriage contract but only pay some of it when they get married. "Wives must be watchful. Some men may stipulate a dowry of SR50,000 and only pay SR25,000 of it. If the wife asked for a divorce, she has to pay the entire amount of dowry stipulated in the contract," he warned.
Sameeha Sulaiman was one woman who was divorced for no good reason. She told Arab News: "I went to Jeddah to spend the holidays with my family. I obtained permission from my husband before I left my home in Makkah. He had been getting on with my family. After five days, I told him that I was coming back. He told me that there was no need as he had divorced me."
Sameeha said she was still puzzled as to why her husband left her. She had done nothing wrong but it was obvious that the man used his right provided under Shariah to divorce his wife at any time and for no reason if he so desires.
Isra is another Saudi woman who was barely 22 when she divorced. She said she tied the knot to what she thought was a well-mannered man, but after seven months he started showing his true colors.
“I discovered that he was very miserly, not only financially but emotionally as well,” she said, adding that she tried her best to make it work but lost all hope when he tried to hit her.
Isra said he kicked her out of the house because she spent SR2,000 in a month even though he was actually making more than SR230,000 monthly.
"He stipulated in the marriage contract a dowry of SR40,000 of which he only paid SR25,000 when we got married. However, when I went to the court to ask for khula, he demanded the whole dowry to be paid back to him. The judge ruled in his favor and I had to pay SR40,000 to get my freedom," she said.
Um Samira had a similar story to tell. She said she spent 14 years of her life seeking a divorce from her ex-husband. "I had one daughter from my husband. When I discovered that he was psychologically unstable, I filed for khula. The judge asked me to pay the entire dowry of SR60,000 of which he had only paid SR38,000. I applied for divorce when I was 22 and only got it when I was 36. I spent many years trying to collect the money to pay for my freedom," she said.
Commenting on these cases, Muslim scholar Hassan Misfir said Shariah has given the wife the right to ask for khula if the husband was abusing her or not performing his marital duties. He, however, warned that khula could not be demanded on a whim and there had to be good reasons for asking for it.
"If the husband is very sick, abusive or impotent, the wife has the right to demand khula. In this case the judge will grant the annulment and guarantee all her rights. But if she asked for khula only because she could not tolerate him, she has to repay him the dowry stipulated in the marriage contract," he said.
Sheikh Misfir also said when a husband divorces his wife, he has to inform her and authenticate the divorce in court.
He also said before granting the divorce, the judge has to try to reconcile them using intermediaries from both sides. "If they fail to reconcile, the judge will divorce them," he said.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article475864.ece
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Probe team to submit report on Vastanvi on Saturday
Jul 22, 2011
The split in the probe team set up by the Majlis-e-Shoora (the supreme council) of Darul of Uloom, Deoband, to look into allegation against its incumbent Mohtamim Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi for his admiration of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to end soon and a report may be submitted on Saturday unanimously.
Convener of the three-member fact-finding team constituted in February Mufti Mohammed Ismail Qasmi from Malegaon on Thursday said under any circumstances, the report would be presented at the shoora meeting on Saturday. The other two members of the committee are Malik Mohammed Ibrahim of Vellore and Mufti Mohammed Manzoor of Kanpur.
“We have to submit the report in the meeting and we will hand it over to the shoora on Saturday under any circumstances. I will also reach Deoband on time. And after reaching there, we will once again try to talk to the students who protested in January-February against the Mohtamim. Whether we are able to speak to them or not, the panel would submit its report for sure,” said Mufti Ismail Qasmi.
Earlier, he has alleged that certain group opposing continuation of Wustnavi as Mohtamim of 145 years old seminary did not allow the panel to converse with the agitating students.
Later, he revealed it was Mufti Manzoor, another member of the probe team who was not interested in talking to the students. “No matter, even if there is a difference of opinion, the panel will place its report in the meeting,” said Mufti Ismail. The scheduled two days shoora meeting will start at 9 am on Saturday. Apart from deliberation over the fate of Vastanvi, the powerful supreme council will also discuss other routine issues pertaining to the admission of students and expenditures & incomes.
According to sources, the issue of Vastanvi would only be taken up on Sunday and by the evening the shoora will seal the fate of the Gujarati cleric. The total sanctioned strength of the shoora is 22 but at present there are only 18 members as four posts are vacant. These posts have been lying unfilled for quite sometimes after the death of four members. It was also informed the members of the council would start reaching Deoband on Friday morning. While talking to The Pioneer, Vastanvi said he will certainly attend the meeting and accept the unanimous decision of the shoora.
“I was never restless or anxious. I have never asked for the post, if the council appointed me as Mohtamim asks me to step down, I will not challenge it. For me, the status, respect of the institution is every thing. I will also reach Deoband by Friday evening and will not dispute the verdict of the shoora,” he said.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/355031/Probe-team-to-submit-report-on-Vastanvi-on-Saturday.html
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As Pak lobbyist falls on ISI sword, 'Hai-Fai' among Kashmiri Pandits
Chidanand Rajghatta
Jul 22, 2011
WASHINGTON: They watched him with envy and resentment for nearly two decades as he hijacked the ''Kashmir issue'' in the US. He called his outfit ''Kashmir American Council'' but they felt it was more a ''Kashmiri Muslims' American Council'.'' Bankrolled by Pakistanis and their intelligence agency ISI, he falsified facts, distorted perspective, and exaggerated issues, blustering and buying his way into American political discourse.
But with US investigators exposing Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai as a Pakistani ISI stooge, long suffering Kashmiri Pandits are rejoicing. As far as they are concerned, Fai was a Pakistani lobbyist, not a Kashmiri activist. ''It was always clear that this (Fai's) group was following the official Pakistani version of the Kashmir story. In all instances, the truth was obfuscated by misinformation provided by our opponents masquerading as Kashmiri freedom fighters,'' says Lalit Koul, President of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum, which works to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri Pandit community, including their ethnic cleansing from J&K by Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/As-Pak-lobbyist-falls-on-ISI-sword-Hai-Fai-among-Kashmiri-Pandits/articleshow/9314477.cms
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Pak's Jamiat fears naive Hina will suffer setbacks against 'wise' Krishna
Jul 22, 2011
Islamabad : The chief of Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has criticised the appointment of Hina Rabbani Khar as the new Foreign Minister, saying it was not a “wise decision” to have a woman holding the post.
Khar (34), this week became Pakistan's youngest and first woman Foreign Minister. But Rehman said the decision to give the slot to a woman cannot be called a wise decision.
“We have reservations over the decision and we do not know who she will represent (Pakistan) on the diplomatic front,” he said on Thursday.
Rehman said Khar is a businesswoman and “does not have any diplomatic and political experience” and pointed out that she would now face an experienced and wise leader in S M Krishna when she travels to India for talks.
Khar was appointed by President Asif Ali Zardari on the advice of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and both leaders praised her shortly after she took oath as the country's 26th Foreign Minister.
She will have important engagements in coming days, including ministerial-level talks in New Delhi on July 27.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/paks-jamiat-fears-naive-hina-will-suffer-setbacks-against-wise-krishna/820844/
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19 die during urs celebration in Pakistan
Jul 22, 2011
ISLAMABAD: At least 19 people have died in separate incidents of drowning and suffocation in the intense heat during an annual urs celebrations in Pakistan's Sindh province, Geo News reported on Friday.
Six people drowned while bathing in a canal while 13 others were suffocated during the three-day urs celebration of Hazrat Usman Marvendi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town of Sindh's Jamshoro district.
Tens of thousands of devotees converged from different parts of the country to pay homage to Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on his 759th annual urs celebrations this year.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/19-die-during-urs-celebration-in-Pakistan/articleshow/9320731.cms
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Double Blow for Syrian Regime
By Zoe Holman
Jul 22, 2011
Intellectuals give impetus to uprising as regime's policy of mass arrests fails to deter protesters.
The arrest of leading public figures at a demonstration in Damascus last week has bolstered the opposition by challenging the regime claim that protests are the work of Islamists and thugs, a leading Syrian human rights activist has said.
The unprecedented arrests of artists and intellectuals comes as commentators speak of the ineffectiveness of the regime's "revolving door" policy of detaining people en masse for short periods of time as a means of scaring them off further protest.
One analyst told IWPR that people are more willing to come out onto thestreets because they calculate that the risk of being killed is relatively small while if they're arrested they may only spend a few days in prison before being released to make way for another protester.
Full report at:
http://iwpr.net/report-news/double-blow-syrian-regime
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Pakistan: MQM wins two seats in Azad Kashmir polls
Jul 22, 2011
KARACHI — The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), as expected, comfortably won the two Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly seats, according to the results released late on Wednesday.
The polls for LA-30 (Jammu) and LA-36 (Kashmir Valley-1) seats were held in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces and the voting turnout was reported to be around 76 per cent.
The MQM candidate Mohammed Tahir Khokhar bagged 30,326 votes, while Abdul Rashid Mirza of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz got 18,301 votes in LA-30 seat.
There are 68,580 registered voters in LA-30, which comprises of around 43 districts of the country. Of these, 29,861 voters are in Karachi, 2,497 in other districts of Sindh, 31,738 in Punjab, and 4,484 in Balochistan. Twelve candidates were in the run for LA-30, while 11 contested the election for LA-36.
In LA-36, out of the 6,199 registered votes, MQM’s Mohammed Saleem Butt got 4,633 votes.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/July/international_July1062.xml§ion=international&col=
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'Pakistan nutured terror groups, army projected India as threat'
Jul 22, 2011
WASHINGTON: Pakistan nurtured extremist groups to fight "proxy irregular" war against India, while its military benefited from presenting New Delhi as a threat, a top Pentagon official told US lawmakers.
"Pakistan has viewed India itself and Indian (or any other nation's) domination of Afghanistan as an existential threat, and has taken steps it believes are necessary to counter this threat, including developing nuclear weapons and nurturing extremist groups to fight proxy irregular warfare," Admiral James A Winnefeld, the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a written reply to lawmakers' query.
"That the Pakistani military benefits from presenting India as a threat, and that there are many in the military who sympathise with the extremist views of these groups, only reinforces this tendency. Moreover, these groups fought hard against the Soviets during their invasion of Afghanistan, and thus the military bears a certain loyalty to them," he said.
The officials, however, said in supporting and tolerating these terror groups the Pakistani military has grabbed the "tail of a tiger" that they may not be able to control.
Winnefeld, during his confirmation hearing for the post before a Congressional panel, said: "I believe it's very unfortunate that Pakistan years ago made a decision to go down a very risky road of using proxy groups to carry out some of its desires to protect what it views as its own national interests, and among those groups has been the Haqqani Network."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Pakistan-nutured-terror-groups-army-projected-India-as-threat/articleshow/9319801.cms
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U.S demands Bangladesh extradite Taliban-trained militants
Jul 22, 2011
Hundreds of Bangladeshi recruits have joined the Jihad in Afghanistan, which overthrew the pro-west Mujahideen government.
The United States has demanded extradition of Bangladesh-born militants who were recruited and trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina raised the issue Wednesday with the ruling Awami League’s central working committee. She also hinted at external pressure to hand over the suspects.
Hasina assured U.S. officials that her government would take necessary steps to nab the suspects, who are still at large.
The suspected jihadists, according to intelligence sources, returned to Bangladesh through clandestine routes soon after the U.S.- and British-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi recruits have joined the jihad in Afghanistan that overthrew the pro-West Mujahideen government.
Senior Pentagon officials, through diplomatic channels, have submitted a list of Bangladeshi militants and demanded the extradition of those suspected militants now living in Bangladesh.
Since the government led by the pro-secular prime minister swept to power more than two years ago in Bangladesh, scores of self-proclaimed Jihadists who boasted to have fought with the Taliban have been arrested.
Earlier, Bangladesh pledged to the United States and Britain to support the “war on terror” and have received high profile counter-terrorism training.
Afghanistan-trained militants are a security threat to Bangladesh's tolerant and secular Muslim majority, according to political scientist Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of state-owned Dhaka University.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90054918?U.S%20demands%20Bangladesh%20extradite%20Taliban-trained%20militants#ixzz1SpZW4eSC
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US imam’s son key to terror support network: FBI
Jul 22, 2011
MIAMI: The son of a Muslim cleric in Florida was a key part of his father’s alleged finance network for the Pakistani Taliban terror group and shared the older man’s support for violent attacks, an FBI agent testified.
Agent Michael Ferlazzo said at a bail hearing that 37-year-old Irfan Khan appears to advocate violence repeatedly on some of the more than 1,000 phone calls the FBI recorded between him and his father, brother and other alleged conspirators.
On one call, Ferlazzo said, Irfan Khan referred to Pakistan’s government as "big pimps."
"They’re talking about violent opposition to the government," Ferlazzo said. On another call, the agent said, Irfan Khan seemed pleased that people feared the Pakistani Taliban "because of how lethal they had become."
Irfan Khan, his 24-year-old brother Izhar Khan and their father, 76-year-old Hafiz Khan, are charged along with three others in Pakistan - including Hafiz Khan’s daughter, Amina - with four terrorism support-related crimes.
Prosecutors say they funneled at least USD 50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban, which is waging a violent campaign against Pakistan’s government and has also targeted US interests. The Khans have pleaded not guilty. The three charged in Pakistan remain at large.
US District Judge Adalberto Jordan is considering bail requests from the two brothers, but he has rejected bail for Hafiz Khan. Jordan said he would decide on whether to release Irfan Khan on bail by the middle of next week. Attorneys for the brothers have argued there is little evidence linking them to terrorism.
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=181608
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Muslim Brotherhood refuses bill of rights documents
Jul 22, 2011
The Muslim Brotherhood has officially rejected attempts to formalise a bill of rights for all Egyptians
The Muslim Brotherhood has announced its official refusal of the supra-constitutional documents proposed by several political groups and potential presidential candidates like Mohamed ElBaradei and Hisham El-Bastawisi, claiming that these are attempts to circumvent the will of the public.
The group has stated that its position is based on two factors: first, that the majority of the Egyptian people chose a specific roadmap in the constitutional referendum in March, starting with having parliamentary elections and then electing a committee to draft a permanent constitution, and that this committee should not be bound by supra-constitutional statements.
The second is that the constitution is to be proposed by the people for the people; it should not be enforced on them by political “elites”.
The Muslim Brotherhood said that political groups and potential presidential candidates that want to suggest principles that should be included in the new constitution should present proposals to the drafting committee, not documents that the committee must accept in whole or refuse.
The Muslim Brotherhood called yesterday in an official statement for a million man march at Tahrir Square agains the Supra- constittional documents next July 29th,2011. The Muslim brotherhood million man was supported by other Islamist political groups like Salafists and Islamic group.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/16985.aspx
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General Zia expresses concern over instability in Balochistan
Jul 22, 2011
QUETTA: Southern Command Commander Lt Gen Jawaid Zia expressed his grave concern over the killings of Baloch missing persons and the dumping of their bodies in the streets and said that it might result in Balochistan breaking away from the country.
Lt Gen Jawaid Zia made these observations while talking to local editors and senior journalists at Quetta Press Club on Thursday. Inspector General of Frontier Corps Balochistan Major General Obaidullah Khattak was also present on the occasion.
In his first ever face-to-face chat with the local press, the lieutenant general said that the military had no hand in the disappearance of Baloch citizens, their killing, or their disposal in the streets of Balochistan. He said that the army realised that it was a very serious and highly sensitive issue and caused hatred.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg7_14
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Woman alleges rape by army personnel in south Kashmir
M Saleem Pandit
Jul 22, 2011
SRINAGAR: General Officer Commanding of the Army's 15 Corps Lt General S A Hasnain on Friday denied the Indian Army's involvement in the alleged rape of a Gujjar woman in south Kashmir.
Hasnain, however, said an internal probe has been launched into the case and strict action would be taken against the guilty but cautioned that the allegations may have been leveled to "defame the force" and disturb the peace.
"If there is any truth in the allegation, then it is a criminal act against which strict action must be taken. Army is cooperating in the police investigation and we have launched a separate investigation of our own," Hasnain told reporters here.
A 30 year old Gujjar woman from Gujjardara-Manzgam in Kulgam district told locals on Thursday that a group of Army men from the nearby camp pounced upon her when she was conducting ablution for prayers near her hutment, and took her away where she was raped by two army soldiers of 62 Rastriya Rifles.
The police have registered a rape case on the basis of these allegations.
Meanwhile, chief minister Omar Abdullah promised strict action against the guilty.
The medical examination of the woman, whose alleged rape sparked protests in the area, has revealed no marks of torture or violence on her body, according to highly placed sources.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Woman-alleges-rape-by-army-personnel-in-south-Kashmir-CM-says-guilty-will-be-punished/articleshow/9324712.cms
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Somali women’s minister abducted by militants
Jul 22, 2011
MOGADISHU: Al Qaeda-inspired insurgents abducted and detained Somalia’s newly appointed women’s minister on Thursday while she was on her way to take up office, officials and witnesses told.
Asha Osman Aqiil was named women and family affairs minister on Wednesday. She was kidnapped by the Shebab fighters in Balad town, some 19 miles north of the capital Mogadishu. ‘Asha Osman Aqiil... is in a jail in Balad town... after she was kidnapped on her way to Mogadishu to take her new post,’ said Ahmed Sheikh Mohamud, a clan elder. ‘It is unfortunate that she is in the hands of the wrong people and we are praying that she is freed,’ a lawmaker told on condition of anonymity.
Aqiil’s kidnapping is likely to cause security concerns for foreign relief groups planning to resume operations Shebab-controlled regions after the rebels lifted a ban on their work and asked for aid in the face of a severe drought. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg4_4
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Sydney Opera House pic on jihad website triggers alert
Jul 22, 2011
SYDNEY: Police on Thursday cautioned Australians to be vigilant after an al-Qaidalinked online magazine published a picture of Sydney's iconic Opera House, and expressed concern about its influence on the local Islamic community.
"If you thought the terrorism risk had diminished and gone away, then you are wrong," said Andrew Scipione, head of state police in New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital. "We should never become complacent when it comes to preventing acts of terrorism — so it is a really important wake-up call for us all", he said. Police are unclear about the significance of the Sydney Opera House photograph appearing in the latest issue of Inspire, an English-language online magazine published by associates of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The magazine cover features a picture of Osama.
The Opera House picture is on page 35 and serves as the cover of a section that includes lessons on how to use an AK-47 rifle and how to make bombs. Image is accompanied with title "Open Source Jihad". Below it are the words, "In this section: Training with AK (Part 3) Making Acetone Peroxide".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Sydney-Opera-House-pic-on-jihad-website-triggers-alert/articleshow/9319174.cms
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Soccer team scores for women’s rights in Islamic world in sports — and society
Jul 22, 2011
Jalila al-Nuaimi is an appreciative guest. She's also a striker, same as her on-field idol. So when the United Arab Emirates women's national soccer team gathered in front of a television during a recent tour of the United States to watch a thrilling World Cup match between the Americans and Brazil, Ms. al-Nuaimi was torn.
Root for her gracious hosts?
Or pull for her longtime hero?
"I'm sorry, but I was with Brazil," said Ms. al-Nuaimi, a 22-year-old from Dubai.
"[Brazilian striker and five-time FIFA World Player of the Year] Marta is my favorite player," she explained. "Everyone was cheering 'USA!' I was yelling 'Marrrrtaaaa!' "
A laugh. A grin.
"I was the only one," she said.
As members of one of the first international women's sports squads from the oil-rich, predominantly Islamic Persian Gulf nation, Ms. al-Nuaimi and her teammates are familiar with standing out. In many ways, they epitomize the state of female athletes across the Middle East: competitive neophytes, cultural trailblazers, navigating both the fields of play and a larger social shift from traditional gender roles to modern, Western-style equality.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/21/uae-soccer-aims-at-ambitious-goal/print/
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Clash between two groups in Karachi; 11 killed
Jul 22, 2011
KARACHI: An exchange of fire between two groups in the Malir area of Karachi on Friday killed eleven and injured several, DawnNews reported.
The tension that started early in the morning in the Khokhrapar colony spread fear among the residents, causing shops to shut and leaving commuters hopeless.
The dead and the injured were shifted to Sindh government hospital and Jinnah hospital immediately.
Rangers and Police had arrived to take control of the situation.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/22/clash-between-two-groups-in-karachi-six-killed.html
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Yemen Qaeda chief, 10 soldiers killed in fighting
Jul 22, 2011
A Yemeni Al Qaeda leader and 10 soldiers have been killed in a south Yemen battle, a military source and medics said on Thursday, as a top official said the US had aided a unit besieged in the south.
Ayad al-Shabwani, a leader of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed on Tuesday by artillery fire during heavy fighting that continued into yesterday between the army and suspected Al Qaeda militants near Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, the military source said.
He was killed about four kilometres east of Zinjibar, the source added.
Medical sources said that 10 soldiers had been killed and 33 wounded in the fighting near Zinjibar.
One medic at a military hospital said that it had received nine dead soldiers and 15 wounded yesterday night.
And a medic at another hospital in Aden, the south’s main city that lies to the west of Zinjibar, said it received 19 wounded soldiers from the 31st Armoured Brigade, and that one had died of his wounds.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/354902/Yemen-Qaeda-chief-10-soldiers-killed-in-fighting.html
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Three killed in Pakistan blast
Jul 22, 2011
Three employees of Pakistan’s state-run oil and gas company were killed and seven others injured when a vehicle was targeted with a roadside bomb in the country’s southwest Balochistan province on Thursday, officials said.
The car of the Oil and Gas Development Company was hit by a bomb hidden in a motorcycle in Dera Allahyar, a town in Jaffarabad district.
A senior official of the company and a driver were among those killed by the blast, officials said.
The death toll was revised by officials hours after the attack. Initial reports quoting police and witnesses had said four persons were killed in the attack. The injured, including four employees of OGDC, were taken to a nearby hospital. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/354897/Three-killed-in-Pkistan-blast.html
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Malawi president calls for calm as 11 die in riots
Jul 22, 2011
BLANTYRE: At least 11 people have been killed in clashes between Malawian demonstrators and police during rioting in three cities against President Bingu wa Mutharika, health officials and relatives in the southern African nation said on Thursday.
Health ministry spokesman Henry Chimbali confirmed 10 deaths in the northern city of Mzuzu, where protesters ransacked the offices of Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday in a rare show of public anger.
Relatives told Reuters another man had died after being shot in the southern city of Blantyre, where police and troops fired tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators demanding Mutharika quit as leader of the impoverished nation of 13 million.
The overall death toll looks set to rise, with security forces in the capital, Lilongwe, clasing for a second day with groups of anti-government youths.
“Most casualties are dying of excessive bleeding,” Chimbali told Reuters. “As people are still rioting out there we’re seeing more casualties coming in, especially at Lilongwe Central Hospital.”
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article475840.ece
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Cross-border attack kills two in Bajaur
Jul 22, 2011
KHAR: The mortar shells fired from across the border in Afghanistan hit a house in Pakistan on Thursday, killing two people and wounding several children, officials said.
They blamed Pakistani Taliban, saying the terrorists are hiding in eastern Afghanistan and launching across the border attacks on Pakistani troops. Six people, including three children were wounded.
In the latest attack, four mortar shells hit the house in Banda-Gai village in Mamoond area, 60 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district.
“Two people, including a woman were killed and six others were injured. Terrorists fired the mortars across the border from Afghan side,” Tariq Khan, a senior administrative official, told AFP.
Shah Naseem, another official, said the target of the attack was Pakistani troops at the border but they remained safe.
Taliban and other al Qaeda-linked terrorists have carved out strongholds on both sides of the porous border. Afghanistan and Pakistan blame each other for several recent cross-border attacks.
On Tuesday, more than 20 mortar shells from Afghanistan killed four Pakistani soldiers and wounded two others in South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal district. Pakistani officials blamed the Afghan army for that attack. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg1_4
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PIA union leader shot dead in Peshawar
By Ali Hazrat Bacha
Jul 22, 2011
PESHAWAR: Syed Kamal, the provincial president of PIA’s People’s Unity, was shot dead along with his driver Mohammad Ayaz here on Thursday.
According to Peshtakhara police, Mr Kamal was ambushed in a busy commercial area when he was going to his residence in the Bara Gate area in Peshawar cantonment.
Police said a complaint lodged by Mr Kamal’s brother Syed Jamal had named Nasir, Sajid, Mohabat and Aslam as main suspects and cited enmity as the reason for the murder.
It may be mentioned that the chairman of PIA workers’ union, Amir Shah, had been killed in Karachi on July 16.
Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah and other PPP leaders went to the mortuary after the incident.
People’s Students Federation’s spokesman Faheem Khan said the organisation would hold a demonstration on Friday in protest against the killing.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/22/pia-union-leader-shot-dead-in-peshawar.html
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Iraq stays executions of two Saddam-era officials
Jul 22, 2011
BAGHDAD: Iraq has stayed the execution of two of Saddam Hussein’s top military officials in a sensitive decision for the country’s multi-sectarian government.
Sultan Hashim, who was a former defense minister, and Hussein Rasheed, who was Saddam’s former army chief of staff, were sentenced to death by a court in June 2007 because of their involvement in a brutal campaign which targeted members of the country’s Kurdish minorities.
Iraq’s Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi, a Sunni, said on Wednesday the presidency council, a body set up to act as a balance among Iraq’s various sectarian and ethnic groups, had agreed to uphold a suspension of the two mens’ death sentences.
“I can calm the families of the prisoners and say there will be no change in the position ... regarding implementing the death sentence made against them,” Hashemi said.
The two men were convicted of genocide for directing the 1988 Anfal military campaign against Kurds.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article475977.ece
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Suspected Qaeda recruiter arrested in Germany
Jul 22, 2011
BERLIN: An Afghan national has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of recruiting or fundraising for international terrorist groups al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, federal prosecutors said on Thursday. The 21-year-old man, identified as Omid H, is alleged to have published articles and videos on an Islamic Internet site glorifying terrorist attacks with the intent of recruiting new members or raising money for the networks, prosecutors said. Some 60 articles and videos uploaded to the site by Omid H over the past year were aimed to “incite ... radicalism and ideological-motivated violence,” they said. Omid H was arrested near Kassel in western Germany on Wednesday, the Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. The apartments of two other men - whose names, ages or nationalities were not given - were raided in connection with the case, prosecutors said. In May, a German-Syrian man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison after admitting to being a member of al Qaeda in Pakistan. He later tipped off German intelligence officials about possible attacks in Germany. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg7_9
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Burqa an affront to human dignity say Muslim women
By Lincoln Tan
Jul 22, 2011
A Muslim women's group is expected to tell a public forum tonight that the burqa is not a requirement in Islam and it is "an affront to human dignity" for women to be forced to wear it.
This month, a Saudi Arabian student was left crying on an Auckland street when a bus driver refused to let her board because she was wearing a Muslim veil, which she refused to remove.
This brought a call from Prime Minister John Key for New Zealanders to respect the beliefs of others, and for women not to be discriminated against because they wear the burqa.
But the Sisters in Islam say Islam has no laws making wearing of the full veil compulsory.
The Malaysian-based group's acting executive director, Ratna Osman, is the main speaker at the "Muslim Women Rights is Human Rights" forum at AUT University tonight.
The group's founder, Zainah Anwar, said on its website: "I find the burqa really disturbing.
"There is enough literature to show that the face veil is not a requirement in Islam.
"In a conservative, patriarchal Muslim context, face veiling really symbolises women's invisibility and inferior status.
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10739845
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Muslim Women Using Pop Culture and Social Media Technology to Effect Change
Lori Ziganto
Jul 22, 2011
While President Obama bemoans technology and innovation—those nefarious ATMs and airport kiosks stealing jobs all willy-nilly—moderate Muslims, particularly the women, are embracing it as a way to potentially effect change. The real kind, not the faux hope-and-changey kind. You see, that pesky innovation and technology could be a key factor in one day making a true Arab Spring a reality.
Obama only spouts platitudes about the "unclenching of fists" to appease radical Muslims, while his administration practices its incompetent version of diplomacy that can only be described as, "This foreign stuff is super hard. I can haz cookie now?" Even during his speech outlining our withdrawal from Afghanistan, he uttered more cheesy lines than Barney Frank during Fleet Week. Worse, he had the audacity to claim that we can totally leave now because we met our commitments, and there are "new opportunities being created for women and girls," and that we will join "initiatives that reconcile the Afghan people, including the Taliban." The TALIBAN. Oh yeah, they create wonderful new opportunities for girls, such as permanent vacations from school. And they'll go so far as to kill the head of a girls school to ensure such vacations.
Full report at:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=44990
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New Zealand: No place here for burqa
By Paul Holmes
Jul 22, 2011
To hell with the burqa. It has no place here. This is my considered opinion after giving the matter extensive thought. It really is an offensive piece of medieval kit that speaks of medievalism and religious extremism.
Actually, I use the word burqa loosely. Everyone does. The burqa is actually the entire - generally black - covering enshrouding the clothes a woman has underneath it.
And in fact, in the countries where Islam reigns, they tend to have stalled in their development several hundreds of years ago so the general cleanliness of their communities - and by that I mean the dust flying round and the rubbish people discard - and the burqa helps keeps your clothes cleaner for longer. This was my observation in Yemen.
But in this country the burqa seems to be an imprisonment of women. It just seems mad. You know it's about women having to hide themselves. It's nothing to do with Allah, either. It predates the Koran. It just suited the men who adopted the teachings of the Prophet to keep the woman subjugated.
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10737262
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Woman's arrest for July 10 strike comes as new J&K flashpoint
Randeep Singh Nandal,
Jul 22, 2011
SRINAGAR: Twenty-two-year-old Qurat-ul-Ain has become the centre of a new controversy in Kashmir. This college student was arrested by Sopore police for her involvement in the July 10 IED strike on Sopore police station.
One policeman was killed and eight seriously wounded. But this week, Qurat-ul-Ain's arrest, two days after the blast, has snowballed. Separatist leaders are threatening an agitation if she isn't released.
Adding emotional appeal to the case is that Qurat-ul-Ain was to get married on July 23. The police say they have a watertight case against her; she is a Lashkar courier. "We have been watching her for a while and picked her up only after we learnt that she was part of the team that targeted the police station," said a senior security source.
The student's arrest has brought to the fore an issue that has been troubling security agencies in Srinagar for the past few months. Militancy is back with a vengeance in Sopore and the 'dehshatgard' are busy consolidating their hold, killing informers, and getting increasingly brazen in their attacks on the police. The security forces, on the other hand, are desperately trying to stop militants from fanning out of Sopore. In this cat-and-mouse game, even women are used as scouts and informers.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Womans-arrest-comes-as-new-JK-flashpoint/articleshow/9319067.cms
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US Muslim Woman Gets $20,000 in Lawsuit Against Discrimination
Jul 22, 2011
A federal jury has awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages to a Muslim woman who alleged that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against her because she wore a head scarf.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The six-member panel deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before deciding on damages against the clothing retailer.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued on behalf of Samantha Elauf, who alleged she was denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa's Woodland Hills Mall because she wore a hijab. The hijab is part of her religious beliefs.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled last week the store violated Elauf's civil rights when it didn't hire her.
Store officials denied any discrimination but acknowledged having a policy that bars headwear.
Abercrombie & Fitch officials couldn't be reached after hours for comment.
http://abna.co/data.asp?lang=3&id=254857
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Vice President releases autobiography of Asghar Ali Engineer
Jul 22, 2011
New Delhi: Vice President of India, Mohd. Hamid Ansai on Wednesday released an autobiography of eminent scholar and columnist Asghar Ali Engineer entitled “A Living Faith – My Quest for Peace, Harmony and Social Change” at a function here in the National Capital.
Mr Engineer is currently Chairperson, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, and Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, Mumbai.
Vice President, Mohd. Hamid Ansari releasing “A Living Faith: My Quest for Peace, Harmony and Social Change - An Autobiography of Asghar Ali Engineer”, in New Delhi on July 20, 2011.
Addressing on the occasion, the Vice President said that the services of Mr Asghar Ali Engineer in building an inclusive society is praiseworthy and his rise as a leader of social and religious reform is exemplary.
The book is an extensive autobiographical account of Mr Asghar Ali Engineer’s commitment to building an inclusive society and his interpretation of Islam as a modernist. Through the reminiscences of a life that has been lived for truth, the book depicts journey – from violence to peace, from prejudice to acceptance from politics of power and religion to the power of humanity – one that continues unheeded, against all odds.
http://twocircles.net/2011jul21/vice_president_releases_autobiography_asghar_ali_
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British Public Most Likely to Blame the Media for Islamophobia
Jul 22, 2011
A new ComRes survey on Islamophobia - the fear of the Muslim faith - reveals that people think that the media is most to blame for whipping up a climate of fear of Islam in the UK.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - People are twice as likely to say the media is to blame for Islamophobia (29%) than far-right groups (13%), or indeed Muslims themselves either abroad (14%) or in the UK (11%).
Conservative Party Chairman, Sayeeda Warsi, recently said Islamophobia had 'passed the dinner table test', becoming a social norm. Indeed, just 1% of people do not think that Islamophobia exists in the UK.
The poll was commissioned by one of the UK's oldest Muslim groups, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in order to inform its plans to counter the tide of prejudice against Islam and highlight strategies to promote better community relations.
The poll comes on the eve of Britain's biggest annual Islamic convention which will see 30,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community gathering at a 220-acre site in Hampshire. Foremost on the agenda will be ways to build bridges between communities and spread the word that Islam means peace.
Full report at:
http://abna.co/data.asp?lang=3&Id=254927
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Pakistan: Christian League launched to protect rights
Jul 22, 2011
ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Christian League (APCL), a political party has been formally launched on Thursday with a vivid manifesto for a strong and democratic Pakistan, besides determination to protect the rights of Christian community and struggling for their proper representation in federal and provincial services. The announcement to launch this party was formally made by its Chairman Professor Salamat Akhtar. Founder of the party and Co Chairman Nawaz Salamat and other office bearers were also present on the occasion.
Briefing the media about the manifesto of the party, Professor Salamat Akhtar said best way to cope with problems confronting Christian community is to introduce a party that can represent them in a befitting manner.
He said All Pakistan Christian League will be the first representative party in Pakistan purely of Christians since 1972. Organization of the party is underway all four provinces as well as abroad in US, Germany and Denmark. Professor Salamat said Nazim Sajjad has been nominated as President APCL Islamabad Region, Zeeshan Joseph as President APCL Punjab, James Allah Dita as President APCL Rawalpindi while Huber George as President APCL US, Ch. Yusuf Akhtar as President APCL Germany. He appeared resolute to deal strongly with internal and external threats with unity and continue efforts till elimination of this scourge. Professor Salamat said his party believes in freedom of media and will support it. The APCL supporters on the occasion reposed full confidence in the leadership, and vowed to make it stronger through concerted efforts. staff report
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg11_5
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Somali militants maintain aid ban and reject famine
Jul 22, 2011
MOGADISHU: Militants in Somalia said on Friday that an earlier ban on specific aid agencies operating in the drought-struck regions they control remains in place, rejecting UN declarations of famine.
“Those earlier banned groups are not welcome to serve in our area of control,” Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in a broadcast on the militant radio Al Furqaan radio.
The Al Qaeda inspired militants since 2009 banned several aid agencies including the UN World Food Programme, although the agency has continued to send relief to other parts of the country out of militant control.
The hardline militants also dismissed the declaration made by the UN earlier this week that there is famine in two regions of southern Somalia under militant control.
“There is drought in Somalia but not famine — what is declared by the UN is 100 percent false,” Rage said.
“The declaration of famine is political, and is a lie with hidden agendas,” he added, admitting only that there is “a shortage of rain.”
The Shebab appealed for help earlier this month, saying it would lift a two-year-old ban on foreign aid groups so they could help Somalis suffering from a severe drought.
A Shebab official earlier this week had welcomed the famine declaration.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/22/somali-militants-maintain-aid-ban-and-reject-famine.html
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U.S. Condemns Crackdown on Protests in Malawi That Left 18 People Dead
By Frank Jomo and Brian Latham
Jul 22, 2011
The U.S. condemned the use of force by Malawi’s police to break up anti-government protests in the past two days, and warned the government against a crackdown on the free press.
Eighteen people were killed when security forces confronted protesters in the towns of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, Henry Chimbali, the spokesman for the health ministry, said by phone today. At least 44 people are being treated for gunshot wounds in Mzuzu, Amnesty International said, calling for an investigation into the police response.
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority switched off three private radio stations -- MIJ FM Radio, Joy FM Radio and Capital Radio -- to stop them from reporting on the protests, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Malawi Chapter.
“The government’s attempt to prohibit its citizens from marching, and the Communications Regulatory Authority’s ban on independent media coverage undermine democracy and the rule of law that Malawians cherish,” U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton said in an a-mailed statement.
Full report at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-22/u-s-condemns-crackdown-on-protests-in-malawi-that-left-18-people-dead.html
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Keralite Suresh Nair named in Ajmer blast chargesheet
Jul 22, 2011
New Delhi/Kochi: The National Investigation Agency has included the name of a Keralite- Suresh Nair – also in the chargesheet of the Ajmer blast case. Suresh Nair is one among the eight including Swami Aseemananda.
The others accused are Sunil Joshi, who was reportedly killed by the Hindutva men themselves out of fear of losing the secrecy of the conspiracy, Mehul, Bhavesh Patel, Ramji Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Bharat Radheswar. Swami Aseemananda is said to be the main conspirator of the blast. However, only Aseemananda and Bharat Radheswar have been arrested by the police yet, and others are absconding.
The NIA got information about the role of Suresh Nair, reportedly an active member of the RSS, from Mukesh Vasani, his Gujarati friend active in the Godhra RSS unit. He was said to be one among the gang which brought explosives from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat. Though the car they used to bring the explosives was caught by the Rajasthan ATS, the gang managed to escape and went in hiding in Gujarat, Later Suresh Nair and four others took some explosives to Ajmer in a state bus.
Full report at:
http://twocircles.net/2011jul21/keralite_suresh_nair_named_ajmer_blast_chargesheet.html
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Human rights lawyer Shafeeq Rehman Mahajir honored in the US
Jul 22, 2011
Harvey, Illinois: In order to encourage and recognize his contributions and efforts for securing human rights, City of Harvey, Illinois honored noted Indian lawyer Shafeeq Rehman Mahajir at a program organized for the purpose at Harvey City Hall on July 19 evening.
At the program, City of Harvey Mayor Eric J Kellogg honored Mr. Mahajir with the achievement award for his contributions in the field of securing human rights for victims of police brutality in India. The award was given in the presence of Harvey City Council Members and several other personalities of different fields of life.
Advocate Shafeeq Mahajir receiving the award from City of Harvey Mayor Eric J Kellogg on July 19, 2011.
Event was started with the prayers by a Christian Pastor and a Muslim Imam Noor Mohamad Vhora followed by preview of 2 documentaries about the intimidation of lawyers in india and the victims who had been falsely arrested and illegally detained. The lawmakers and legislators after seeing the documentaries said that the rule of law in India should prevail and justice need to be done swiftly and correctly.
Full report at:
http://twocircles.net/2011jul21/human_rights_lawyer_shafeeq_rehman_mahajir_honored_
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Group criticises narrow view of Islamic law
By Lincoln Tan
Jul 22, 2011
The "conservative, literal and narrow interpretation" of Sharia law by Muslim leaders is the real problem facing Muslims, an Auckland public forum on human rights was told last night.
Ratna Osman, acting executive director of the Malaysian-based group Sisters of Islam, said debate was needed for Islam to be better understood.
"But fear has been instilled ... and we don't talk about things that Muslims are sensitive about," she said.
About 40 people, mainly non-Muslims, attended the "Muslim Women Rights is Human Rights" forum at the Auckland University of Technology.
Ms Osman's group is opposed to the traditional Muslim teaching that men are superior to women, and criticises Sharia (Islamic) law as being "human constructed" and "not divine".
Group founder Zainah Anwar said the law was therefore "fallible, changeable, given a different time and context".
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10740056
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Rabbi in court as divorce gets really ugly
By Josh Lederman
Jul 22, 2011
A rabbi and his wife surrendered to the FBI yesterday on charges that they abducted an Israeli man, beat him and threatened to bury him alive if he didn't give his wife a religious divorce.
The case against David Wax and his wife in United States federal court marks a strange twist in a chain of events that started with a divorce dispute in Israel's Rabbinical Court over the victim's refusal to give his wife a "get", an Orthodox Jewish divorce document permitting a wife to remarry.
It also entangles a prominent religious figure and publisher of Jewish texts, described as a "pillar of the community" of Lakewood, New Jersey, a large Orthodox enclave and centre of Jewish learning.
David Wax, 49, and Judy Wax, 47, made a brief appearance in federal court yesterday before being released on a US$500,000 ($590,880) bond each. A grand jury will decide whether to indict them on kidnapping charges, which could result in a life sentence if they are convicted.
"We're confident that when all the facts are made public, he'll be cleared of these charges and his good and honourable name will be restored," Mitchell Ansell, David Wax's attorney, said.
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10739535
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Hamas cuts male hairdressers
Jul 22, 2011
Hamas, the Islamist overlords of Gaza, has started to enforce a ban on male hairdressers as it seeks to impose a stricter code of Islam on Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians.
Hamas, which tightly controls life in Gaza, arrested a male stylist this week, the first such detention since the party introduced the ban in March last year, seen at the time as an effort by the group to burnish its conservative credentials in the face of criticism that it was insufficiently Islamic.
Since the surprise arrest, the handful of male hairdressers have reportedly shied away from the salons where they work, fearful of sharing a similar fate.
In Gaza's fiercely conservative society, where the majority of the population is Muslim and few women venture out with their hair uncovered, only a small number of women are willing to have men cut their hair.
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10737015
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Politicians urge tolerance over veils
Jul 22, 2011
National and Labour leaders are calling for tolerance after two Muslim women wearing veils ran into trouble with Auckland bus drivers.
The two drivers were given a final warning and counselling after two incidents in May. In one case a Saudi Arabian student was left crying on the street after a bus driver refused to let her board because of her veil and in the other a driver for the same company told another woman to remove her veil.
The Saudi Arabia Consulate-General complained to the Government about the incidents.
NZ Bus told Fairfax Media both drivers had been sent on counselling programmes - and had been found to be suffering from "maskophobia".
"Both drivers ... claim it's not religious ... but they genuinely have a phobia of people wearing masks, hence why we have not dismissed them," general manager Jon Calder told the newspaper.
Prime Minister John Key said he was comfortable with people wearing veils.
"I am yes, it doesn't offend me and I respect people's beliefs and it's a matter for others," he told reporters.
Full report at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10736450
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Pakistan not complicit on Osama bin Laden: Musharraf
Jul 22, 2011
WASHINGTON: Pakistan's exiled former President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that "absolute negligence and not complicity" was behind his country's Osama bin Laden fiasco and Washington and Islamabad must put that episode behind them and rebuild trust.
"We must convince the world and the United States that the issue of Osama bin Laden was not complicity; it was negligence of a very monumental order," he said in a speech in Washington.
US special forces' killing of the al Qaeda leader in Pakistan on May 2 soured relations between the two countries over US suspicion its ally knew he was living in a town not far from the Pakistani capital for about five years.
"Two years of that five years was during my time. I confidently and surely say that there was not complicity because I am very sure of one thing: that I didn't know, whether one believes it or not," said Musharraf.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-not-complicit-on-Osama-bin-Laden-Musharraf/articleshow/9321942.cms
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Afghans take over security in Herat
Jul 22, 2011
NATO troops on Thursday made Afghan security forces responsible for the city of Herat, the country’s western capital where two British men were reportedly arrested.
Herat is the fourth of seven areas to transition to Afghan control this week, but critics say the timetable is politically motivated and not reflective of Afghan abilities to ward off the Taliban with violence at a 10-year high.
Underscoring the threat, a suicide bomber killed four people on Wednesday in the north’s Mazar-i-Sharif, considered one of the safest cities in Afghanistan and due to be transferred on Saturday.
In Herat, a ceremony took place at NATO’s International Security Assistance Force headquarters in the city, attended by the Defence Minister, other senior Afghan officials and Italy’s Economic Development Minister Paolo Romani. Italy is in charge of coalition efforts in Herat.
“We don’t want a parallel security force. The ANA (army), ANP (police) and our intelligence forces are prepared to defend our country and crush the enemy,” said Ashraf Ghani, head of the national transition authority. A separate ceremony was later held at an Afghan army base in the city.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/354899/Afghans-take-over-security-in-Herat.html
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Valley falls to ‘ leftover explosives’
By Naseer Ganai in Ratsuna
Jul 22, 2011
TERROR is exacting a high toll on Kashmir’s children. And getting caught in the crossfire isn’t the only peril they are exposed to.
Fierce encounters between militants and security forces pose an equally explosive residual risk.
The life of nine- year- old Obaid Lone of Ratsuna village was snuffed out in one such instance. On June 27, two militants were gunned down in a shootout in the village. During the encounter, the house in which the militants had taken shelter was completely damaged. Subsequently, local children flocked to the site to collect spent cartridges.
“ Obaid and I collected several shells and brought them home. But we were asked by mother to throw them,” recalled Obaid’s cousin Saqib Lone, aged eight. On July 10, the two went to the encounter site again. While collecting apricots from nearby fields, Obaid found a live grenade.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Mumbai 26/ 11 martyr’s daughter gets govt job thanks to Home Minister
By Aditi Raja in Mumbai and Aman Sharma
Jul 22, 2011
HOME minister P. Chidambaram has honoured the promise he made to Divya Salaskar on a TV show three weeks ago. The daughter of Mumbai Police officer Vijay Salaskar — who was martyred fighting terrorists in the 26/ 11 attack — has landed a government job, courtesy of the Union minister’s nudge to the torpid administrative machinery.
Divya has been appointed an assistant commissioner in the Maharashtra government’s sales tax department. While the 23- year- old awaits her official appointment letter, she is glad that Chidambaram kept his word. Speaking to M AIL T ODAY from her residence in Mumbai on Thursday, Divya expressed happiness at the development and hoped that it would open a new chapter in her life.
“ It was three weeks ago, before the serial blasts in Mumbai, that I had an opportunity to ask Chidambaram some questions while he was being interviewed on NDTV. First, I asked him about Pakistan’s stand on 26/ 11. Then, I told him how bagging a government job was proving to be a tedious affair despite my having studied in the UK. It was then that he promised to intervene and take up the matter,” Divya recounted.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Israel rules out flotilla apology to Turkey
Jul 22, 2011
* Reports suggest there is increasing pressure on both sides for an agreement
* Israeli attorney general advises PM to apologise to Turkey in a bid to head off lawsuits
JERUSALEM: Israel will not ‘take responsibility’ for the deaths of nine Turkish nationals by apologising to Ankara over its botched 2010 raid on a ferry heading for Gaza, a senior cabinet minister said Thursday.
‘We are not ready to apologise as apologising is taking responsibility,’ Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Jerusalem. ‘There is no room in my mind for any kind of apology that means taking responsibility,’ he said of the pre-dawn raid on a six-vessel flotilla that attempted to sail to Gaza in May 2010 in a bid to break Israel’s naval embargo.
Yaalon’s comments come after several failed attempts by Israel and Turkey to patch up ties that frayed almost to breaking point after commandos stormed the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry that was leading the flotilla. He said Turkish representatives continued to insist that relations could only be restored if Israel apologised for the raid, compensated the families of those killed and the injured, and lifted its blockade on the Gaza Strip. ‘We tried very hard to bridge the gap... (but) as long as they insist on this position I can’t see any agreement between the two sides,’ he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\22\story_22-7-2011_pg4_1
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Afghans face tough challenges after NATO transfer
Jul 22, 2011
22 July 2011 MEHTERLAM, Afghanistan — In this city of 100,000, people are scared to wander out at night, the chief judge was recently fired for allegedly collaborating with insurgents, officials accuse each other of corruption and the police force is barely large enough to patrol the streets.
As of this week, Afghan forces are in charge of security, replacing the Americans who still keep insurgents from swarming into town through raids in the surrounding valleys of Laghman province.
The tenuous peace in Mehterlam shows the challenges Afghan authorities are facing as the U.S.-led coalition hands over responsibility for more parts of the country. The big question is whether Afghan forces are up to the job.
By the end of next week, seven spots on the Afghan map will officially be under Afghan control — a process that will continue until 2014, when the whole country will be in Afghan hands.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/July/international_July1071.xml§ion=international&col=
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El-Fadaly accused on TV of participating in 'Battle of the Camel'
Jul 22, 2011
El Salam Democratic Party chairman, Ahmed El-Fadaly, denies taking part in the 2 February violence after being caught on camera mixing and relaxing with hired thugs as they launched Molotovs at protesters in Tahrir Square
Ahmed El-Fadaly, the head of the Freedoms and General Rights Committee in the National Consensus, and chairman of El Salam Democratic Party, is being accused of participating in the attack on the protesters at Tahrir Square on 2 and 3 February in what has become known in the media as the "Battle of the Camel.”
Last Monday night, TV host Yosri Fouda aired onhis popular show 'Final Word'on ONTV a video clip filmed on the night of 2 Februaryin whichEl-Fadaly appeared at the thugs’ side on the 6 October Bridge. Fouda confronted El-Fadaly on air with the clip that showed him relaxed smoking a cigarette while thugs were throwing Molotov cocktails and attacking revolutionaries in Tahrir Square from the bridge.
El-Fadaly defended himself on air claiming that he was there because the offices of the party and its newspaper were close to thebridge. He claimed that no one knew him, whether it wasthe thugs or the revolutionaries, and that he opened the Young Men’s Muslim Association, which he heads nationwide, as a shelter for the revolutionaries, without the knowledge of the state security.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/16797.aspx
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National Council for Human Rights to issue a rights principles manifesto
Jul 22, 2011
Adding to debate on a bill of rights for Egyptians, the National Council for Human Rights has said it will issue its suggestions for supra-constitutional principles that must be respected
The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) announced in a statement issued today that it has agreed to issue a supra-constitutional principles document. According to the statement, the document will be prepared by members of the council and should be promulgated by a constitutional declaration.
The NCHR demanded an end to military trials for civilians, limiting such trials to normal military law only. The NCHR said it would present a list of civilians currently prosecuted before military trials, demanding their release or retrail in civil courts.
The council has agreed to open offices in Egypt's governorates. It also announced in its statement that it will have representation in the fund for the martyrs and wounded of the January 25 Revolution that was set up by the government.The council also announced that suggest amendments to criminal law relative to torture and its definition.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/16995.aspx